[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 93 (Tuesday, July 18, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H6440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  NUCLEAR FUEL RELIABILITY ACT OF 2000

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to inform the House 
that I am introducing a major piece of legislation which would make it 
possible for this Government to once again assume the ownership of the 
nuclear fuel production industry in this country. The act is entitled 
the Nuclear Fuel Reliability Act of 2000.
  Why is this legislation necessary? I think it is important for this 
House to understand that approximately 2 years ago actions were taken 
that for the first time privatized the industry which is responsible 
for enriching uranium in this country.
  What that means, in practical terms, is that the industry that is 
responsible for producing approximately 20 percent of all of the 
electricity that is generated in this country has been placed in 
private hands.
  Now, that may not be so bad if the company that became the owner of 
this industry had acted responsibly and had kept faith with this 
Government once privatization had occurred.
  One of the obligations placed upon the private company was to operate 
the two enrichment plants which exist in this country today, one in 
Paducah, Kentucky, and one in Piketon, Ohio, to operate those plants 
through the year 2004. Recently, the company has made the decision to 
close the Piketon, Ohio, plant in June of next year.
  Who has benefited from privatization, Mr. Speaker? I think the only 
ones who have benefited from privatization are those select few 
individuals who oversaw the privatization process and have enriched 
themselves. And I am speaking specifically of the CEO of that private 
corporation, Mr. Nick Timbers.
  As I have said before, as a Government employee, his salary was 
approximately $350,000, which is a respectable income. He was given 
permission to oversee privatization, to make recommendations, to 
advocate; and he did those things and he did so in a way that enriched 
himself.
  As the CEO of the now private corporation, his salary is somewhere in 
the vicinity of $2.48 million; and he has a golden parachute of $3.6 
million.
  What has been the result? Who has benefited other than Mr. Timbers 
and a select few of Wall Streeters? Well, I will tell my colleagues who 
has not benefited. Have the investors benefited? Absolutely not.
  At the point of privatization, the stock of the company was worth 
approximately $14.50 a share. It is now hovering around $4 a share. So 
the investors have not benefited.
  Has the Government benefited? Absolutely not. We find ourselves, as a 
government, facing a situation where we may become dependent on foreign 
sources for up to 23 percent of all of the electricity that is 
generated in this country.
  Have the communities where these plants are located benefited? 
Absolutely not. My community is being absolutely annihilated as workers 
who have spent 25 and 30 years of their lives working in the service of 
this country are being summarily discharged and dismissed.
  I am terribly troubled by the actions of this corporation. I am 
terribly troubled as a result of the process that led to privatization. 
I think it was a process that was corrupted, it was a process that 
enabled individuals to benefit themselves, to enrich themselves 
personally at great expense to the well-being of this Nation and to our 
local communities and to the investors.

                              {time}  1845

  That is why I have asked for an investigation of these matters. That 
is why I look forward this fall to the Commerce Committee's hearings 
into these matters, because I think they will bring many things to 
light that the American people need and deserve to know.
  And so as I introduce my bill this evening, it is my hope that 
multiple Members of this House will see fit to join me in supporting 
this legislation. It is the right thing to do for our country.

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